JUI-F begins prepping for ‘Islamabad march’

Central leader says deadline given to PM Imran to step down has ended

QUETTA: Former Senate deputy chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri has said the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) would take out the long march towards Islamabad in October after consulting it opposition partners as Prime Minister Imran Khan’s deadline to step down has ended.

Addressing the media in Quetta on Saturday, the JUI-F central leader said, “We have commenced preparations for Islamabad lockdown from today as Imran has not tendered in his resignation on our given deadline which ended yesterday [Saturday].

“After developing consensus with all opposition parties, the JUI-F would start a long march towards Islamabad which would be the last nail in the coffin for the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.”

Haideri said the federal government would be responsible for any untoward incident if it attempts to “stop our workers”.

“Federal Minister for Interior Ejaz Shah has announced to arrest the JUI-F leadership and its workers, but we want to clarify that such threat cannot stop the millions of JUI-F leaders and workers from entering Islamabad. The senior leaders of the JUI-F have vowed to initiate a nationwide lockdown if the government launches an unlawful crackdown against our workers.”



To a query regarding the participation of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in the long march, Haideri said, “Unfortunately, the leadership of PML-N and PPP is in prison due to which the JUI-F has been facing delays in contacting them. However, the opposition is united against the fake PTI government.”

The former Senate deputy chairman slammed Prime Minister Imran and his cabinet over the flawed policies for Kashmir, saying the PM himself uttered rhetoric regarding “division of Kashmir” and he was the first global leader who lauded Narendra Modi’s re-election as the Indian prime minister.

“JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had warned about Kashmir’s annexation by Indian one year prior to the move as when the federal government merged the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, we expressed our concern that Kashmir would be merged with India,” said Haideri.

He said though Modi was a murderer of thousands of innocent people but he was not a beggar. “We lost our respect due to begging for money from international donors.”

He urged the international community and the United Nations to intervene in the Kashmir issue because its people had been suffering for the last 70 years.